


The Stages We Play On

by Silverscorpio11



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/F, Five Stages of Grief, Reunion, canon up to season 4, coming to terms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 08:57:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8526973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverscorpio11/pseuds/Silverscorpio11
Summary: The Fall of Beacon has nearly shattered the lives of Team Rwby. As they drift apart, they must all find ways to cope if they want to come together again.





	1. Bumblebee Denial

Peering up at the sturdy trees swaying in the wind, her eyes flitted from the green leaves to the smattering of red and gold, a beautiful reminder that fall was surely approaching. As her mind drifted, her eyes slowly lost focused. Empty, meaningless thoughts trudged through her mind, sluggish and nonsensical. A loud crash from the kitchen followed by a sheepish "I'm okay!" made her twitch out of her inner musings, eyes refocusing on the barely there reflection in the window.

Blonde locks hung limply around her too pale face. Deep purple bags made the lilac of her eyes appear to be washed out, flat. Her lips, normally pulled up in a smirk, were down turned. A hot stab of shame made her avert her eyes, the need to brush her hair from her face unconsciously prompting her to brush the strands back. Halfway up, her arm froze. The fingers of her right hand wiggled. 

The fingers of her left hand clenched tightly enough to turn the knuckles white as she stared blankly where her right hand should be. Where her fingers should be wiggling. Where she could feel them wiggling even as she told herself that they were no longer there. A lance of pain along the length of her right arm cut through the former bout of shame. Slowly, her left hand relaxed as she let both of her arms go slack. 

The fight left her body as turned back towards the trees outside. She spent the next few hours steadfastly ignoring the rapid twitching of her right arm. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An aggravated twitch made her huff in irritation, willing the appendage to cease moving. She glanced to her left, and narrowed her eyes as Sun smiled at her lopsidedly. Her ear flicked again. "Yes?"  
"I was wondering," he started slowly, raising a hand to the back of his neck nervously, "exactly where are we going?"  
Her amber eyes flicked forward, stoically refraining from scowling. She refused to let the gesture remind her of- "The port," she answered shortly to cut off her own errant thoughts.  
"The port," he repeated, nodding as if it made sense. "The port to...."  
"Anywhere except here."  
"Ah, yes, of course."

A few minutes of silence passed before he opened his mouth again. "Sooooo, should we send word to-"  
"No," she cut him off sharply, not able to stop herself from glaring at him. She couldn't even bring herself to feel bad as he flinched away from her.  
"Are you sure? I mean, she wou-"  
"I said no!" she bit out, full on stopping to stare him in the eye. When he looked down, she repeated in a voice that nearly cracked, "No, I- we can't."

When it was clear he wasn't going to press the issue, she resumed down the path. She couldn't allow herself to waver again.


	2. WhiteRose Denial

Bringing Myrtenaster up, Weiss reminded herself to keep her breathing even, shoulders back to keep her lungs open. The sound of heavy metal falling rhythmically towards her made her smirk humorlessly. She flicked her wrist, letting the vials of Dust rotate to click on a bright blue. She brought the tip of her rapier to the ground and giant shards of ice raced towards her opponents. 

Both knights were caught in the path, jolting to a halt as their feet were trapped. Not wasting a second, Weiss formed glyphs at her feet, skating across them to score hits on both knights, choosing to weave away from their clumsy strikes rather than parry them. 

"Ruby was right," she thought absently, "building up my stamina to keep ahead instead of wasting my energy on deflecting..." the thought trailed off as the closer knight pulled itself free. 

Slipping between its legs, she let the fire engulfed sword tear up the back before beheading it. She did not hesitate to decapitate the second one as well. She hit the ground, and paused. "Not like I'm going to tell her, though," she scoffed to herself before shaking her head and moving to the door of the training room. "Yang would never let me live it down."

An inaudible sigh left her mouth. Thinking of her team was the only thing keeping her sane in the mansion. At the same time, however,...........she let her eyes harden. Nothing she could do with her father practically holding her hostage. She couldn't even gain access to a scroll to see if they were ok. The last she had seen, Blake had been whispering brokenly to an unconscious Yang, the brawler sprawled across the asphalt. 

And Ruby, she had been sprinting up the side of the tower with petals fluttering after her. The last Weiss could remember, she had been slicing through Ursai when a brilliant flash of white had blinded her. And then she had woken up in an aircraft already more than halfway to her father's house. The chatter from the men around her had assuaged her fear of the worst, but a restlessness had settled in her bones. 

The lack of communication was driving her crazy, and the only outlet she had was sparring. Maybe if she had practiced more before now......no, those kind of thoughts would do her no good. With her body nearly too exhausted to stand, she slumped into a chair, relaxing momentarily before correcting her posture. The book on the table would hopefully keep her mind busy before she was suppose to meet with her father. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruby gave Jaune a mechanical smile and wave as she walked backwards into the woods. Once he was out of sight, she began to walk her own path parallel to theirs. While she loved the three of them, it wasn't the same as having her team. She needed to step away sometimes to let herself breathe. And let them breathe as well. 

As she walked, she fiddled with her scroll. They had left Patch a few weeks ago. At first, she had tried calling all of them. Yang would let hers go to voicemail, and she would refuse their father's urges to take his. She knew Yang was hurting, but also knew that Yang would talk to her when she was ready.

Blake's had only been called once, a cool voice saying the line was no longer in service. She worried how Yang would react when she tried to reach the Faunus herself.

And Weiss' would immediately go to voicemail. Not surprising if she didn't have it herself after her father had spirited her away. But she still called her. Not everyday of course! That would be a bit much, and she could imagine Weiss' unimpressed gaze leveled at her scroll when she finally had it back.

Biting her lip, she moved to sit on a boulder partially imbedded in the forest floor. She jammed her finger against Weiss' contact picture before she could talk herself out of it. She didn't even listen to the automated robot voice before her mouth was moving. 

"Weiss! Hey! It's me....uh, Ruby!" She flushed scarlet, a nervous chuckle spilling from her lips. "Uh, I'm pretty sure you knew that though, 'cause, ya know, I.D. and, uh, all." She went silent for a moment, before rambling on. "So, yeah, I called Yang again....with no answer.....again. Dad said she's moving around the house so that's good, though! And, still no word from Blake," she let out a sigh. 

"But, but Jaune is getting better! And Ren's hair has gotten really long, and Nora has almost as much energy as me which is, ya know, crazy because I'm use to you trying to keep step with me and you-" she cut herself off, tears welling in her eyes, and her voice wavered as she breathed out, " I miss you. I really miss you, Weiss. I miss Yang, cause she's my sister and I don't know what I'd do without her and I miss Blake, but....I think...I think I miss you the most, Weiss. I know you like to be sarcastic and it usually flies right over my head, and some of the things you say can be kind of mean, and, "she took a deep breath before rushing on," I know you don't really mean them, and you always have my back even if you think I'm a dunce, and I know I can always count on you to just know exactly when I need one of your glyphs, and what to say when I really need it, and...and."

She blindly tapped at the scroll, trying to end the call before she said something stupid. Well, stupider. When it didn't beep like it normally did, she realized that the screen was already black. A surge of confusion kept her tears at bay and she recalled Weiss' scroll.

"The voicemail box for 'Weiss Schnee' is currently full. The voicemail for "Weiss Sch-" 

"Oh." A startled laugh burst from her mouth, and she let her scroll slip from her fingers. She was still laughing (and definitely not crying, nope) when it bounced off the boulder she was resting on. Before she could move to retrieve it, a great shuddering threw her from her perch. And the boulder she had been sitting on was quickly working itself from the ground. 

"Oh," she stared at it blankly, before giving a watery smile to herself. "At least I get to kill something today."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Rwby.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.  
> Hey, everyone! I've recently binge watched RWBY and fell in love with the characters enough to start writing again.


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